Watching his granddaughter mix medicines and pluck herbs as smoothly as flowing clouds and running water, Qian Daoliu pulled Qian Renxue aside and could not help voicing his doubts.
"Xue'er, where did you get all this information about immortal herbs? When did you learn such pharmacology?"
Before coming, Qian Daoliu had thought Qian Renxue was merely talking, playing house like a child, and had not taken it seriously.
Only now did Qian Daoliu realize that during her six years undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire, his granddaughter had not only learned political maneuvering but had even delved into such astonishing pharmaceutical knowledge.
This granddaughter, who had lacked both a mother's and a father's love since childhood, was far more outstanding than he had imagined.
Cheng Ran began feeding her lines.
Qian Renxue read them out: "Grandpa, I entered the Heaven Dou Empire at nine. Three years, then another three years-I went from a maid to the crown prince."
She paused. "The Heaven Dou Imperial Family has a million volumes in its collection. While undercover, I went through all the ancient books in the imperial study. There were quite a few ancient pharmaceutical texts among them, so I studied some. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was mentioned in a unique surviving copy..."
"So that's how it was. Xue'er, thank you for all your hard work. Grandpa has wronged you." Qian Daoliu first froze, then his aged face reddened slightly. It had indeed been his and Bibi Dong's decision to send Xue'er undercover for six whole years, with her return to Spirit Hall still nowhere in sight.
Cheng Ran yawned.
His secondary profession in Douluo OL had been Alchemist, and he had even maxed out his alchemy skill.
Not to mention the properties of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well's spring water, Dugu Bo's hidden quest line, the antidote formula for Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison, and so on-the player community had long since dug all of it up and written it to death.
Strategy posts flew everywhere, and a quick search turned up heaps of video tutorials.
Forget how to cure Dugu Bo's poison-even the color of Dugu Yan's dudou had been dug up and posted by those horny old players. How ridiculous was that?
Cheng Ran: Right, give your grandpa that Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma you just picked.
Cheng Ran: It's the finest of ganoderma. It can strengthen the foundation and nourish the essence, boost qi and increase power, and even has a chance of helping someone break through a cultivation bottleneck. As the Angel God's guardian, your grandpa can draw on the Angel God's power to reach the demigod realm, but that's borrowed power, not his own cultivation.
A major reason Qian Daoliu had lost to Tang Chen back then was that Tang Chen had reached level 99 entirely through his own cultivation and had deeper foundations.
This Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma might help Qian Daoliu consolidate his foundations and make that borrowed demigod power his own.
Qian Renxue's heart jolted, but her hands kept moving as she passed him a purple ganoderma. "Grandpa, this Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma is for you. It strengthens the foundation and nourishes the essence. Perhaps it can help you break through your cultivation bottleneck."
The Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma had nine tiers of caps, stacked like a pagoda, and gave off a rich medicinal fragrance.
Qian Daoliu took the ganoderma. It felt warm, smooth, and weighty in his hand, and he examined it for a moment.
"Xue'er, Grandpa knows your filial devotion, but a single herb can help a level 99 Limit Douluo break through a bottleneck? Grandpa has lived over a hundred years. What miraculous medicine haven't I seen...?"
Qian Renxue said earnestly, "Grandpa, you'll know whether it works once you try it."
Looking into his granddaughter's sincere eyes, Qian Daoliu's heart softened.
Whether this ganoderma was genuine or not, her filial devotion was real.
"All right." Qian Daoliu smiled and shook his head, then put the Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma into his mouth and swallowed it.
Qian Daoliu had thought there would be no reaction.
The next second, his pupils abruptly contracted.
A gentle yet immense medicinal power spread from his dantian. The demigod power within him, which had always depended on the Angel God's power to sustain it, actually began slowly transforming into his own cultivation.
Qian Daoliu could clearly feel the originally borrowed power of the Angel God being fixed, little by little, into his meridians, bones, and dantian by the medicinal power, becoming foundations that were truly his own.
He closed his eyes, his aura settling and deepening, as though he had touched the demigod realm with his own strength for the first time, rather than clinging to divine power to climb there.
"This..." Qian Daoliu was stunned.
It really worked!
He had lived for over a hundred years and considered himself widely knowledgeable, yet now he stood rooted to the spot, repeatedly sensing the changes within him, unable to believe it.
After a long while, Qian Daoliu clenched his fists, feeling the power surging through his meridians. His voice trembled. "Xue'er, is this real?"
Qian Renxue smiled faintly. "Grandpa, it's real."
Qian Daoliu drew a deep breath, moisture glimmering in his aged eyes.
Back then, before setting out to seek a path to godhood, Tang Chen had fought Qian Daoliu on the Clear Sky Sect mountain peak. Tang Chen had gained a slight advantage, and the two had made an agreement: no Spirit Hall personnel could set foot on that peak until Qian Daoliu defeated Tang Chen.
All these years, Qian Daoliu had been searching for a way to consolidate his cultivation and defeat Tang Chen. Now, this Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma had actually shown him hope.
This meant he not only had a chance to make up for his regret from back then and truly catch up to Tang Chen, but could also protect the Angel Clan with greater strength.
"Xue'er." Qian Daoliu's voice was hoarse. "This is the best gift I have ever received. Grandpa owes you an apology. My knowledge was shallow, and I nearly failed your filial devotion."
He looked at Qian Renxue, his eyes filled with gratification and pride.
This granddaughter, who had lacked both a mother's and a father's love since childhood and had grown up amid schemes and deceit, could now not only stand on her own but take care of him in turn.
Dugu Bo watched from the side, dumbfounded.
He, the illustrious Poison Douluo, knew the world's plants as intimately as the treasures of his own home. Yet although he had seen a few words about the Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma Qian Daoliu had just consumed on surviving pages of ancient texts, he had never imagined it truly existed.
Cheng Ran: Xiao Xue, your turn. First, consume those two immortal herbs, the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot, then immediately jump into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to temper your body. That will give you ice and fire immunity.
Qian Renxue: Eat the immortal herbs first? I think two immortal herbs with such extreme properties will clash if they enter my body at the same time, won't they?
Cheng Ran: As your domineering CEO, I don't want what you think. I want what I think. Listen to me, listen to me.
Qian Renxue: ...
Cheng Ran reminded her again: Listen carefully. You can't get the order wrong. You must eat the immortal herbs first, then enter the spring water. If you jump in first, without the herbs protecting your body, that water can scald you alive or freeze you to death.
Qian Renxue: Understood.
"Grandpa, next I'm going to temper my body with the immortal herbs and spring water!" After this brief explanation, Qian Renxue walked to the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, holding the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass in one hand and the Infernal Delicate Apricot in the other.
She drew a deep breath, stuffed both immortal herbs with their extreme properties into her mouth at once, chewed them up, and swallowed.
Boom!
Two utterly opposing energies crashed into each other inside her!
One sought to burn her meridians, the other to freeze her bone marrow.
Qian Renxue gave a muffled groan. Her face instantly flushed red, then turned bluish-white. Her body shook violently, and her clenched teeth chattered.
At the sight, Qian Daoliu's expression changed drastically, and he stepped forward. "Xue'er!"
"Grandpa, don't touch me!" Qian Renxue gritted her teeth, her voice halting yet exceptionally firm. "The medicinal powers are clashing inside me. I have to enter the spring water immediately to neutralize them... If you inject soul power, you'll only send both energies completely out of control!"
Qian Daoliu stopped, his fists clenched tightly, unable to decide.
Dugu Bo had also grasped what was happening and said quietly, "Great Enshrined Qian, the Young Master is right. With two extreme immortal herbs entering her body at once, their medicinal powers are colliding inside her. The only solution now is to draw on the spring water of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Interfering now will only make things worse."
Enduring the agonizing pain surging within her, Qian Renxue leaped into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Half her body felt as though it had plunged into lava, the other half as though sealed in ten-thousand-year ice.
Yet the instant she landed in the spring water, the medicinal power within her formed a wondrous resonance with the water outside.
Cheng Ran hurriedly shouted: Don't resist! Use your angel soul power to guide it. Direct the scorching power into the half of your body in the Cold Spring, and the freezing power into the half in the Hot Spring! Form a cycle!
Following his instructions, Qian Renxue circulated her angel soul power, and the power inside her seemed to become a taiji diagram.
At last, the spring water outside and the medicinal power inside formed a perfect cycle between the interior and exterior.
The scorching heat was neutralized by the Cold Spring, and the freezing cold by the Hot Spring. Her body found a point of balance amid the interweaving ice and fire.
Time passed, second by second, minute by minute.
Qian Renxue's body was tempered in ice and fire. Her bones, meridians, and even her muscles were being reshaped and strengthened.
Through this method, she completely absorbed the energy of both immortal herbs.
After an unknown length of time, Qian Renxue slowly opened her eyes and stood up in the spring water.
She drew a deep breath, reaching her left hand into the Yang Spring and her right into the Yin Spring.
The scorching heat that could melt steel and the bitter cold that could freeze soul power actually felt as comfortable as warm water to her.
Ice and fire immunity, impervious to all poisons.
Cheng Ran: Done. Your physical tempering is complete. Next comes the main event of this trip that I, the Evil God, planned for you: taking the Aromatic Silk Beauty to catalyze martial soul evolution.
Qian Renxue: Martial souls can evolve?
Cheng Ran: That's right. Aromatic Silk Beauty can shatter a martial soul's innate shackles and break through its growth ceiling. Although your Six-Winged Angel is already a top-tier martial soul, it's still one step short of its ultimate form. This immortal herb is the key.
After the tempering she had just experienced, Qian Renxue was utterly convinced by the Evil God and had no doubts whatsoever.
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